Since Hitchcock arrived the Oilers have become one of the best in our division and one of the better teams in the NHL. Often a coaching change results in a teams fortunes changing (part a result of the actual coaching, and pairtly to do with the players themselves aware of the fact trades might follow so they play harder) and Hicth has a good record for this. A year and a few months ago; Vegas has the Oilers as the highest odds to win the cup before the year started and many in the hockey world pegged them as contenders. Fast forward half a season and McDavid was way behind Kucherov the scoring leader at the time, and they had dug an impossible hole, the second half nobody scored as many points as McDavid and they had a respectable record. Much had been written and talked about as far as their defense goes, and now Klefbom is out for at least a month...do you think they can keep it up and show the real team was the one that almsot went to the conference final, or do you think they simply don’t have enough parts and are doomed to mediocrity.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/predicting-matthew-tkachuk-will-next-calgary-flames-captain/
Barf.
That is my first response.. admittedly, in part, because we could have had him (although as a rule I don't spend much time wallowing in regret, and had we drafted him our subsequent drafts would have looked different, yada yada yada).. but mostly because I think he's immature and temperamental, and makes bad decisions.. and I kinda wanna punch him in his crap-lousy face..
but..
in my more candid moments, I must admit he is growing as a player and a guy can't argue with his effort & desire to win.. and yes, he would be useful on any team.
and I can't think of any better current flamer (after Giordano is gone) to captain that squad..
sigh..

Toronto is an interesting study. Are they as good as the media makes them out to be? Are the players as good as the media makes them out to be? Marner is overrated. Gardiner is overrated and cant play D. Interesting that Mathews sits somewhere around 140th in the league in PP time for forwards. Then there is the bald god Lamarillo. I remember rumour was when they signed Kovulchuk to the big contract back in Jersey Lamarillo wanted nothing to do with it. Will he give Mathews the big contract? Is he holding back Mathews PP time to hold his stats back?